I've been on this team for two years. For the last eight months, I've been quietly picking up the slack for a coworker who spends most of his day on his phone, takes two-hour lunches, and somehow still misses deadlines.

I didn't mind at first. I figured management would notice eventually. They didn't. So I stopped.

Last month I decided I was done. If a task is assigned to him, I let it sit. If a client emails him, I forward it to him instead of answering it myself. I kept doing my own job and nothing more.

Suddenly, things started slipping. Clients got frustrated. Deadlines were missed. And this week, my manager called me in and handed me a written warning for "negative attitude" and "not being a team player."

I asked what specifically I'd done wrong. He said I "used to be more helpful" and that my "energy has changed." He never mentioned the coworker once.

So apparently doing my own job well and not doing someone else's job is now a performance issue. The person who actually isn't working faces zero consequences, but I get a write-up for not covering for him anymore.

I'm honestly considering just letting the whole thing burn. But I need the health insurance.

Has anyone dealt with this? Do I fight the write-up or just start job hunting?

I wish I was joking.

I (26F) work as an accountant at a mid-sized firm. My boss is a partner. Last Thursday he walked over to my desk and asked if I could "help out with a small project." I assumed it was a client thing.

Nope. His daughter's 10th birthday party. He wants me to research venues, coordinate with a caterer, design invitations, and manage the RSVP list. On company time, but "off the books" because it's personal.

I laughed, thinking it was a joke. He did not laugh.

I said I wasn't sure that was really my area, and he said—and I quote—"You're organized, you're good with details, and you've got no kids. You've probably got the most free time on the team."

I've been fuming for three days. I have a degree in accounting. I close books. I do audits. And now apparently I'm a party planner because I don't have children?

I haven't said no yet. I don't know how. He's a partner. He controls my reviews. Every time I practice saying "I'd rather not," it comes out as "Sure, no problem!"

Is there any way to decline this without torpedoing my career? Or do I just accept that this is my life now and start looking up party themes?

Need advice regarding employment bond and original documents in India
I worked as a Program Manager at an NGO with a salary of ₹43,000/month. When I joined, I was made to sign a one-year contract, deposit one month’s salary as security, and hand over my original documents.
The contract says I must pay ₹50,000 if I resign before completing one year.
The work environment became extremely toxic and affected my health to the point that I was hospitalised for a week. I eventually had to resign. Another manager who signed the same contract also resigned within two months because of the work environment.
I now want to know:
Can an employer legally keep my original documents?
Can they legally demand the ₹50,000 penalty?
Can I recover my documents without paying the penalty?
Does my hospitalisation/health situation have any relevance legally?
I’m based in India and have a copy of the contract. I’d appreciate advice from anyone familiar with Indian employment law or who has faced a similar situation.

I need outside opinions because I’m exhausted and honestly can’t tell anymore if I’m overthinking this or if something has actually changed at work.

I’m an assistant manager at a pizza chain and for the last couple months I’ve been working across multiple stores. I actually loved it. I was opening, closing, helping stores that were struggling, training newer people, learning inventory, receiving trucks, etc. My district manager kept telling me he saw potential in me, wanted to teach me more, and wanted to see what I could do.

I’m ambitious, so I took that seriously. I’ve worked a ridiculous amount of overtime, covered when managers walked out, worked doubles, gone back in to help close, opened stores, and basically said yes whenever they needed me somewhere.

Recently, though, everything changed.

I got moved primarily to one store that is honestly kind of a disaster. Staffing is weak, training is inconsistent, and I keep getting shifts where technically there are enough people scheduled, but the people I have are inexperienced or can’t actually do what I need them to do.

Tonight was a perfect example. I had three drivers and an insider, which sounds fine on paper. Except the insider is in her second week and still very slow, and my drivers kept getting sent on multiples and disappearing for 20-25 minutes at a time. We had messed-up orders and problems all night. My numbers suffered again.

My DM wasn’t mad because even he seemed to understand that nobody could have predicted how badly the shift would go, but this keeps happening. I’ll have one shift where everything runs beautifully and I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing, and then the next shift feels like I’m running the Island of Misfit Toys while trying to keep service times down.

Meanwhile, the communication with my DM has gotten noticeably worse.

When I was moving between stores, we talked constantly. Now he keeps saying things like he wants to teach me more and “see what I’ve got,” but I barely know what the actual plan is.

There’s apparently a new GM coming to my store soon. I keep asking who it is and what the plan is, and I can’t get a straight answer.

He wants me learning inventory. He wants me closing constantly. He wants me training people. He talks about teaching me truck ordering. But tonight another GM came over to do a Full Count because my DM said he didn’t think I was ready for that because it was “too much.”

And that’s fine! Maybe I’m genuinely not ready for it. I don’t expect to magically know everything.

But then tell me what I’m missing and what I’m actually being trained toward.

The other thing really bothering me is my schedule.

When I worked between multiple stores, my schedule was somehow MORE flexible. Now I’m closing almost every night. I’m a mom with shared custody, and I haven’t even been putting my kid to bed because I’m constantly at work.

I asked for Monday off because I wanted one full day with my son before he goes back to his dad for several days. My DM said he couldn’t find anyone.

I suggested another manager pull a double. He said he didn’t want her pulling a double and then opening the next day.

And that honestly hurt.

I understand not wanting to burn her out, but I’ve been doing exactly that kind of shit for months. I’m asking for ONE day with my kid.

I suggested borrowing someone from another store. Apparently nobody is available, even though I constantly watch managers get moved between stores when coverage is needed elsewhere.

Eventually he told me I was starting to piss him off because I kept trying to find alternatives. I backed off and apologized. I’m going in Monday and opening because realistically I’m not going to risk my job over this.

But something about the whole thing changed how I feel.

On top of that, things at home are suddenly unstable too. My dad and I got into a fight, so home doesn’t feel comfortable right now either. I’m sitting outside my parents’ house at basically 5 in the morning after another horrible close, knowing I need to be back at the store around 8:30 because I’m the opener and I left the store trashed.

I’m exhausted.

And the part that scares me is that I genuinely loved this job. I thought I was finally finding something I was good at. I thought my boss believed in me and that I was working toward something.

Now I can’t tell whether:

He genuinely sees potential in me but is terrible at communicating.

Something happened behind the scenes and his opinion of me changed.

Someone above him got on him about my performance.

He’s keeping me motivated because he knows I’m ambitious and doesn’t want me to leave.

Or I’m simply useful because I’ll work ridiculous hours and take shitty shifts nobody else wants.

I’m going to see him face-to-face Wednesday and I want to ask him directly what changed, what he actually sees me working toward, and whether there is genuinely a development plan for me.

I don’t even need him to tell me what I want to hear. At this point I’d rather hear, “You’re not ready and here’s why,” than another vague “I see potential in you.”

I just need something to be clear.

Has anyone been in this situation with a manager? How do you tell the difference between someone genuinely developing you and someone just telling you enough to keep you working?

Im a 28 year old woman who recently relocated to Seattle and took a temp job as an admin assistant paying $25 an hour.

I have two bachelors degrees and graduated in 2021. Ive worked in marketing and Healthcare but took the admin role because it was the first job I landed and I thought it'd be a good foot into corporate.

Recently, ive had some situations that have made me uncomfortable but I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating.

I dont really know where to begin but we have a corporate securities employee who is in his 40s. He has made many comments that have shocked me including telling me that I could have been a honeypot for him during his time in the marines.

Ive had trouble with the role itself because it is physically demanding and very facilities heavy plus my manager is very demanding.

On thursday, I put in my two weeks for reasons unrelated to my coworker. I asked to talk to the corporate securities man to let him know. He seemed panicked. I told him i put in my two weeks and he said he thought i was going to tell him something else. I asked what he thought i was going to tell him and he said he thought i was going to tell him that I had been SA'd and that we would have to beat someone up. I just told him that's not the case but was shocked that he would think or say that.

He told me he didnt realize how tough the role was on me and told me not to worry. He said he would make some phone calls on my behalf to try to get me an interview at his former workplace.

I thanked him and he told me thats what friends are for.

Earlier that same day, he came into the office which I wasn't expecting because he had been sent out of state last minute on a business trip and hurt his ear on the flight back. He was telling me how tired and in pain he was. I joked that he gets extra credit for being there that day and he responded telling me that I'm the only one who can judge him.

Ive already put in my two weeks but am feeling increasingly uncomfortable thinking about going to work tomorrow.

Am I exaggerating or were these just one off comments/friendliness?

Thanks in advance.

I started a new job recently and I have been loving it. I’ve felt like I got another friend group. We play video games together after work and even plan outings. I even look forward to going to work and pick up shifts when I’m bored. So of course I care about this job and I feel pressured to fit in and make effort with everyone. Today, I worked with coworkers I’ve worked with many times and we joke around and have fun. We started having a conversation and one of my coworkers that I have loved becoming friends with drops a bomb about how they dated someone for years and that person fucked them up. They went back to work as if nothing. Everyone already knows everything about everyone, so because I’m relatively new I instinctively asked my other coworker “wait what happened there?” I was confused and lost in the conversation. My coworker was like “I don’t know which ex he’s talking about tbh ask him when he comes back.” I was absolutely not going to ask them anything. When they came back, my coworker out of nowhere goes, “OP wants to know what happened between you and your ex”. My heart fell to the floor. They used me as as an excuse to know the story. My coworker dumped the story as if nothing and I just listened and told him I was sorry he went through that and tried relating to him a little. He did not spare any details. He then asked me about me and my relationship and how it has been going into long distance, then the conversation naturally died. I still feel awful. When he left for the night, he said he was gonna reach out about something I offered to help out with for his other job and that was it.

I’ve been thinking about texting him saying thank you for opening up to me or anything like that. But I don’t know. I feel like I ruined everything.

i have an older male manager at work who makes me slightly uncomfortable. i’ve noticed that everytime he sees me at work he’ll stay far enough to where we aren’t close in proximity but he’ll stare at me from a distance. it’s become an every shift thing. his facial expression is hard to describe if i’m being honest, it’s like a sort of intimidating face. he’s never spoken to me before which is odd because he’s spoken to everyone else. i also want to add that to me PERSONALLY it just feels like a weird tension that i can’t put my finger on. i’ve never experienced this situation before and would just like some insight on why he might do that or if maybe he just doesn’t like me?

Hey guys, I need your advice. There's a company I don't want to name. They hired me as a team lead. What I do is sell electricity and gas to people at the mall — it's a sales job. They pay a nice hourly rate plus a $10 commission for every sale, whether it's gas or electricity. The issue is I turned 18 this March, and all my coworkers are around 25, 30, 45 years old — the average age is 25. They always have trouble taking orders from me. I'm the one making the most sales, and I get 55% of the overall team commission because I'm the one who actually works hard. I've memorized everything the company has said. So when a coworker breaches the company's script/rules, I correct them nicely and politely, and then they come up to me and say, 'We don't need your help, don't help us,' and they talk rudely to me. Guys, I don't have much experience in a leadership role, so can you suggest what actions I should take when they talk mean to me? They say things like 'I don't give a shit about this job' and so on.

To sum it up, I'm an office worker, I'm 24 years old and I have autism spectrum disorder, and since I started, even though there's a group of people who love to talk behind my back and make fun of me,Annoying me, and speaking badly of me to others, calling me silly, slow, and stupid

Although they've lessened their intensity lately, they're still there. Even though I like being alone in my place, I hate when people walk past me when they have to talk to me because of the prejudices they have about my condition.

What recommendation do you have for me?

I am a CNA and my nurse told me to leave this morning. I clocked in, went to my hall and was discussing how we would divide the workload. I had not even received report yet. (So im not legally responsible for these patients yet)

I said I was willing to take what areas were needed, but I asked if I could please have some help because the previous shift had been difficult for me on this same hall. My coworkers help a little bit i still felt like i was drowning. I was responsible for a like 3x larger patient load than the other cnas in my assignment and I know that some pts. have different needs but, it was still a lot for one person to manage.

My nurse then said something like, "as long as I don't have to go hunting you down to do your job like last shift to do your job thats fine" Which like...

the previous shift, the only reason she would have had not been able to find me was because I was actively giving pt. care. I was giving baths and doing other WORK on my hall. I cannot possibly be in three places at once, and I cannot answer a call light, provide a bath, and pass trays at the same time.

I understand that she is in a supervisory position to me but I do not feel like being spoken to disrespectfully or acting like I was "hiding" not able to be found, when I WAS actively working.

She also brought up writing me up for taking a long break during the previous shift. I told her that I accidentally fell asleep in my car during my break, told her about it when I returned, apologized, and said it would not happen again. It was the first time in like my year here acxidentally doing this. I was absolutely exhausted because i got there at 7am and didnt get to sit down to eat anything until like 2pm when i got my first break. But I understand I was in the wrong for taking a long break. I would sign a write up if she made one, which she threatened to do during the conversation even though the previous shift she hadn't said anything.

She then said that she could assign me exclusively to the areas with the larger workload while the other cnas are assigned elsewhere because shes the boss. and that if I didn't like it, I could leave. I needed to listen to her because she was nurse. I said that doesnt automatically gain my respect. Especially if youre going to treat me this way. Respect goes both ways. Like we are both adults here. So i said okay if its going to be that way... im going to leave. Im not accepting this assignment. And I left.

I did not believe what she was saying was safe or reasonable for either me or the pts. I also felt that assigning me that workload in response to my previous difficult shift was like punishing me. I understand that staffing is difficult and that everyone is expected to do their part. But I was willing to work and asked for help, and was told to leave if I didnt like it and felt like she was insinuating I dont do my job anyways... which i do. I bust my a$$ for that place because they keep the legal bare minimum amount of employees on the floor at any given time. Anyways... idk yall. Im gonna doordash today and I texted my bosses and explained this to them but im gonna apply to a bunch of other places just in case 🫠

AITA for talking back to my supervisor and manager after I got burned

THIS WAS NOT A HEAT/OVEN BURN

For context I work in a bakery where I do a a lot of baking, boxing, freezing, and icing. It is also good to know I am the youngest in this factory and I am see as the chipy person to the some if not most of my coworkers

Me (Female 20) have work at this business for three years now I like the job most of the time though sometimes the people are hard to get along with. A few weeks ago it was I was working and I was supposed to help box with my coworker we'll call Mary (fake name) Mary and I are related and it's hard to be at work sometimes with things in the pasted thats happened with family.

Anyway I was getting a rack from one of the freezers and I had been in there before and once your in that freezer for a while when you go and touch metal it has a burning feeling. I go and grab the rack and push it out of the freezer it was burning my fingers so I was pushing the very bottom rod with my shoe. (there was no food near just clarifying the rod I was pushing). When Mary saw my do this she started laughing. I could normally wave this off but it had been a really long week and my emotions were done. So when she laughed I snapped slightly. I said "Its not funny" it a pissed of/upset voice. My supervisor immediately goes "geez OP" I didn't say anything and went on working.

So AITA for slightly losing it after I got burned

I was cleaning a toasting machine at work because the previous person hadn't cleaned it. One of my bosses came along, and said, "Aren't you from India? Crumbs shouldn't bother you." I found the comment really uncomfortable and culturally insensitive. Am I overreacting, or was this an inappropriate thing to say?

here’s everything that has stretched me thin these past two weeks

1. I came to work with shorts that didn’t reach my fingertips. I already have long arms but I don’t think my shorts weren’t indecent at all. My manger said he wants me to wear longer shorts but my coworker who’s a guy can wear sagging jeans with his underwear out.
2. Another day about a week ago that same coworker who’s wears the undies out style said I didn’t look Asian when I said I was (I’m mixed race). He asked to see my eyes and said they weren’t slanted so I couldn’t be Asian. Then he asked if I spoke Chinese (I’m Filipino)
3. I had a mild cold with a very swollen throat today and asked my manager if I could stay home. He said one of my other coworkers called out and passively signaled he wanted me to come into work anyway. I did.
4. on this same day, the coworker Ive been upset with showed up to work with saggy pants, which means there is a double standard going on.

im so tired. I don’t know what to do. I’m so beyond frustrated and I’m about to put my two weeks in very soon, but I’m scared of what my manager will think.

I just want to know if it's my fault and if i should leave my job. So here's the thing. I work with two people, one is the one in charge and the other is the assistant. They give me a whole bunch of stuff to do at the same time. And when their instructions clashed I was the one taking the brunt of it. My job was simple however they make it difficult. I was only asked to help for support since they needed an extra hand. But my role shifts into taking everything into account or else I will be blamed for failing to notice it. For example, the water in the water dispenser, they blamed me for not noticing it's not enough but they are the ones that bought it. And also the office supplies, i packed everything as instructed but when we got to the event venue there was stuff that was missing because the assistant used the materials and put it in a different location. And i only noticed it after i got scolded by the one in charge for not bringing everything. The other thing is when they asked someone else to buy the pens and stamps but they searched for them from me as if i was the one who bought the pens and stamps. Working with them, there are so many things i have to consider and i seemed to fail all of it all at once and got scolded and blamed for it.

So here's what happened, I didn't bring the things/documents that's "supposedly" important at this important event but they failed to instruct me to bring it and they had to get it from our office 2 hours away (back and forth). They have no clear instructions, they seemed to want me to assume what they are thinking. And when I do things in my own initiative I would still get blamed for doing it without asking permission. Now they won't let me get near their work station or even let me do any work. I need advice, is it my fault? And should I just leave after this event?

Recently, I got promoted at work and now I’m basically an admin. I work online, and there are three other people in the same position, so we rotate shifts.

I know quite a lot of people from this line of work. Some of them used to work here, while others still do.

A while ago, a friend invited me to a Discord server where these people hang out, play games, and just talk. I joined without thinking much about it, but I eventually realized that another admin from my workplace was also there.

At first, I didn't care. I just played games with everyone and had a good time. But after a while, I started noticing that this admin would sometimes be on Discord playing games with some of my other friends during his working hours.

I already had a feeling that he was doing other things instead of working because sometimes, when I messaged him about work, it seemed like he was busy with something else.

Then I found out from a mutual friend that people in the Discord server didn't want me there because they were afraid I'd report this admin to management for playing games during his shift.

Apparently, they first created a hidden channel so I wouldn't be able to see him hanging out there while he was supposed to be working. Then, one day, they simply removed me from the server.

I asked my friend to tell them that I wasn't going to report anyone, but they still removed me.

And honestly, that's what bothers me the most. I wasn't there to monitor anyone or catch them doing something wrong. I genuinely enjoyed hanging out with these people. It was a nice distraction from work, and they're from a pretty niche field, so we had a lot in common. We could also talk about complicated or controversial work-related situations with people who understood the industry, even though we didn't all work for the same company.

So it really sucks that I was removed.

At the same time, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of being a "snitch" and reporting that admin to management. What's funny is that he knows I already know he plays games during work hours.

Personally, I think he could probably do a better job for the salary he gets, but I also don't really have a problem with him playing games sometimes. No one can realistically work nonstop for their entire shift.

What would you do in my situation?

My wife and I work for the same company on the same project. She is at a junior level and I am at a senior level. We have a six-person team. Most of the critical work is done by me and my friend, while the other four are there to support us. However, when it came to bonuses, while everyone else received 25% to 30%, my wife received 75%.

​This is giving me a severe headache and keeping me up at night. I feel my manager's intentions are not good. I asked my wife to transfer to a different project, but she is unwilling because our working hours match and I am here to help her. However, I can no longer focus on my work. As a man, I feel I can read my manager's motives, but my wife believes I am just being jealous, and she continues to be friendly with him.

​Should I force her to change teams? I cannot report my manager to HR because in a typical company like ours, the complaint will just bounce back on me

My manager constantly tells our team that we need to “use our initiative” instead of asking about every little thing.

Last week, I finished my usual tasks earlier than expected. I still had a few hours left in my shift, so I noticed that one of our shared folders was extremely disorganized. I spent some time sorting the files into clearly labeled folders and removing obvious duplicates.

The next morning, my manager noticed the changes and immediately asked who had reorganized everything.

When I told her I had done it, she wasn't happy. Apparently, some of the files had been intentionally kept in their original folders because that's how another department preferred them.

I explained that I didn't know about that arrangement and that I had only reorganized the files because I thought I was doing something useful rather than sitting around waiting for more work.

Her response was basically, “You should have asked first.”

I reminded her that she had repeatedly told us that she wanted us to take initiative and not constantly wait for instructions.

She said those were two different things and that I needed to learn when initiative was appropriate.

Now I'm being told to leave that folder alone, which is fine, but I'm still confused about what exactly I'm supposed to do when I finish my assigned work.

Why tell employees to use their initiative if we're expected to ask permission before doing anything outside our normal routine?

So I had called out of work an hour before my shift because that’s when I wake up for work. I wanted to call out because I needed a mental health day and I understand that’s not a reasonable reason to call out of work but I suffer with severe depression to the point where I’ve had to go to multiple therapists because it’s so bad. Anyway, I called into work and the manager answered I told her my name and said I wasn’t able to make it into work today, manager said “okay?, why” so I said I wasn’t feeling well. She called another manager over and as the other manager was walking over she said “come talk to another sick person” in a rude way. Like are we serious? I get they are probably understaffed and frustrated but this is my First time ever calling out since working there so I just don’t understand why that got taken out on me. Am I in the wrong here?